Hat-carding machine.



WITNESSES G. A. LOWE.

HAT GARDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 2, 1912.

Patented June 2, 1914.

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G. A. LOWE. HAT GARDINWMAGHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAILZ, 1912.

1,098,743. Patented June 2, 1914.

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S PATENT UFICE.

GEORGE A. LOWE, OF YONKEBS, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOB, TO WARING HAT MFG. (10., OF "SZ'UNKEBS, NEW 'YQRK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

HAT-CARDING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 2, 1914.

Application filed March 2, 1912. Serial No. 681,092.

To all whom it may concern lie it known that 1, GEORGE A. Lowe, a citizen of the United States, residing in Yonkers, county of Vifestchester, and State of New York, have invented the followingdescribed Improvements in I-lat- Carding lr'iachines.

The invention is an improvement in the apparatus employed for carding a nap on felt hat bodies and its object is to increase and improve the output from such apparatus and to improve the facilities wherewith the operator may manipulate and control the carding; operation, as will be obvious to those skilled in this art from a consideration of the invention as shown in the drawings and described below.

In the said. drawings: Figure 1 is a front elevation of a form of machine embodying and exemplifying the invention. Fig. 2 is an enlarged transverse section through the cardingedge. Fig. 8 is a top plan view of the machine; and Fig. 1 an end elevation.

This machine comprises a suitable base or frai'nc, which may be of any suitable design,

and is here shown as a table 1, supported on legs with a rearward extension upon which, if desired, the power shaft 2., may be journaled. The card drum 8, is journaled in a substantially horizontal position in the adjustable journal bearings 4:, carried at the extremities of two forward arms 5, which latter are joined to each other by one or m re cross-bars 6, and jointly pivoted to the rear part of the table on pivotal axes 7, thus forming; a swinging frame upon which the rotary card drum is carried. lit will be observed that such frame can be made in various other forms with equaleffect. The end of the drum shaft carries a pulley 8, adapted to be belted to the drive pulley 9 of the power shaft, as indicated in Figs. 3 and 4-. At its opposite end the said shaft may be provided with a suitable traverse motion 10, which, being device common in this and other arts, will not require description further than to explain that its function is to cause the drum shaft to reciprocate slowly in its bearings as it rotates, so that the wear on the card drum will be uniform. of the drum itself and the pull of its driving belt are counterbalanced by means of the arm 11, which is rigidly secured to the frame and extends downwardly to a point The card drum frame, the weight by a grooved pulley 2d at its extreme end,

below the table, where it is joined to a spring; 12, the tension of which is sufficient to hold the frame in the upper position indicated by dotted lines in Fig. i. The same arm 1.1 is provided with a forked branch 18, which is connected by a link 14: to a treadle lever 15, whereby the operator can swing the. frame downwardly toward and against the hat body with such degree of pressure thereon as may be necessary. An adjustable limit to such downward motion and pressure is provided in the form of a stop screw .16, threaded in an upstanding bracket 17, which is securely planted on the top of the table 1, immediately in front of the swinging frame. "t will be noted that while the drive pulley 9 is not concentric with the pivotal axis 7 of the card drum frame, the arrangement nevertheless is such that the slight swinging of the frame does not appreciably alter the tension of the card drum belt.

The hat body to be carded is supported by a goose-neck bracket 18, supported on the table on four bearing screws 19, and clamped to the table by a spanner screw 2-0, such screws being adapted to provide for accurate adjustment of the bracket The upper part of the bracket terminates in a rearward and laterally extended plate 21, which tapers to a point at its lateral end. The upper surface of this plate 21, may be flat or slightly curved, as indicated in Fig. 41, and its rearward edge is parallel to the proximate surface of the card drum 3. The laterally overhanging and rearwardly extending part of the plate forms a shoe upon which the conical felt hat body is supported and around which such body may revolve, and its rearward margin 22 forms a carding edge against which the body is or may be carded by the drum,

A pair of conical rollers 23 and 2-1 is mounted directly beneath the shoe, with their axes obliquely disposed so that their proximate faces are substantially parallel to each other and so that their rearmost faces are substantially parallel with the straight carding edge above referred to. The shaft of the upper roller is journaled in fixed hearings in a yoke E25, and driven from a corresponding drive pulley 2?, carried by the power shaft. list-ween bean ings 'tl11S roller shaft carries a spur gear 28,

meshing with and driving a corresponding spur 29 on the shaft of the lower roller 2a, which latter shaft is journaled in bearings 30 and 31 of a yoke 32. The first mentioned yoke 25, is carried rigidly on a bracket 25 and its depending arm is provided with a pivot 33, which is adjustable on the said arm by means of a screw 34. One arm of the lower yoke 32, is supported on this adjustable pivot and the other arm is supported on the end of a push rod 35, connected beneath the table to a lever 36, the latter being connected by a link 37, with a second treadle lever 38. The lower conical roller is thus supported in bearings which are angularly adjustable with reference to the upper roller, the gear thereof being capable of meshing with the gear 28, notwithstanding changes in the angular positions of the latter. Normally the weight of the yoke 32 and the parts borne by it is suiiicient to counterbalance the treadle lever so that by allowing the latter to rise, the two conical rollers will be separated as indicated by the dotted line in Fig. 1, and will allow the, conical hat body to be inserted between them. Pressure on the treadle 38 will bring the rollers into driving engagement with the hat body and impart their movement thereto. While the conical rollers and their driving mechanism as thus described forms a preferred means of feeding or revolving the hat body" in the present case, it will be obvious to those skilled in this art that their primary function of moving the hat body can be attained in other mechanical ways, the particular form of gearing above described being of secondary importance to this invention.

In the machine designed as described the hat body, partially represented in Fig. 2, is

placed over and around the tapered shoe 21, and the upper conical roller 23, substantially surrounding these two members, and the rollers rotate in a direction so that when engaged with the hat body they will draw it over the top of the shoe plate and over its rearward edge, whence it passes downwardly through the bite of the rollers and then again upwardly onto the shoe, being the meantime guided and controlled by the operator, who presses the hat body against the plate with his fingers at about the point indicated by the arrow 39 in Fig. 2. The pull of the rollers and also the bending of the hat body over the carding edge 22 produces more or less tension in the fabric and particularly on the exterior surface thereof at and in the region of the upper corner of the carding edge, and it is at this region that the card drum above referred to is brought into engagement with the hat body by pressure on the treadle 15. The effect of thus imparting strain to the fiber in the carding zone and particularly to those fibers which are on or near the surface of the body, is to facilitate their disengagement from the body of the fabric so that they ill raise quickly under the action of the card to form a nap. The carding drum is a cylinder in the pre,

ent case, though it might be conical, covered with card clothing such as used in ordinary hat-jacking machines and substantially as illustrated in the drawings. It is driven in the opposite direction to the revolving hat body, as indicated by the arrow, so that the relative motion bet-ween card teeth and hat body may be at a high rate, the quicker to raise the nap.

It should be explained that in the construction above described the appropriate pressure of the card teeth upon the hat, that is to say, the extent or depth of the carding action, can be gaged or determined by the operator, by the feeling of the body as it passes over the plate 21 and under his fingers, and also, though less accurately, by the appearance of the hat, as is the case in certain existing hat-carding machines, and the treatment of the hat can thus be made as drastic as it will stand during the initial portion of the operation, after which the pressure may be gradually relieved, if desired, for finishing, and finally the driving engagement of the feed rollers upon the hat can be released by releasing the treadle 38, whereupon the hat will then be driven by the card teeth oppositely to its former direction of movement, that is to say, in the same direction as the card teeth and at the same or slower speed, according to the extent to which the operator retards the hat with his hand, or by the further use of the treadle 38. Such slower rate of relative motion provides a still softer or more gentle treatment suitable for final finishing and this wide range of control of the hat body permits of greater or less carding on one part of the hat body than on some other part or spot, thereby enabling the operator to avoid waste by carding the thinner spots less and the heavier spots more, as will be readily understood. The straightness of the carding edge and the uniformity of the angle it prescribes for the bending of the hat body, insures substantially uniform action from one end of the shoe to the other, in proportion, of course, to the relative motions between drum and hat body, but it will be understood that these conditions may be varied as required.

While a preferred form of the present invention has been shown in the drawings, as above explained, it will be further understood that the construction thereof may be modified and varied, that additional features, attachments and devices may be added thereto, and that some of the parts which have been above referred to may be omitted, without departing from the principle of the invention, as. pointed out in the claims. It

will be appreciated, for example, that the hat body and card drum may be either one brought into engagement with the other, also that any suitable means for creating tension in the fabric to be carded, and particularly in its exterior surface may be employed in place of the specific means shown in the drawings, and whether such means be regarded as automatically or manually operated or both. It will be further understood, in relation to the carding edge 22, that the card cylinder 3, may be set to engage the hat body, within the zone of tension, at greater or less distances from the exact edge or upper corner thereof. For this purpose and in order to illustrate adjustability of the card cylinder, Fig. l illustrates a means for shifting the position of the pivotal axis 7, of the card drum frame, such means con sisting of an eccentric a0, on which the pivot of the frame is mounted. There is a similar eccentrically mounted pivot at the opposite end of the frame and both eccentrics are adapted to be rotated in their bearings in obvious manner for the purpose of raising and. lowering the card drum with reference to the carding edge of the shoe.

1 claim:

1. A hat carding machine comprising a carding shoe formed to receive and support a hat body, a rotary card drum adapted to engage the hat body, and means for dravving the hat body over the shoe in the opposite direction to the drum.

2. A hat carding machine comprising a suitable shoe upon and about which the hat body may move, a pair of separable rollers between which. the hat body is inserted, means for closing such rollers upon the body to revolve the same, and a rotary drum geared to rotate in the opposite direction to such roller-driven hat body.

3. A hat carding machine comprising a suitable shoe forming a support upon which the hat body may move, a rotary card drum adapted to engage and card the body upon the shoe and capable of moving the same thereon in one direction, in combination with hat body driving mechanism and means for bringing the same into and out of driving engagement with the hat body, such mechanism being geared to move the hat body in the opposite direction upon'the shoe.

1. A hat carding machine comprising a shoe having a carding edge, a card drum above the shoe operative to card the hat body against the edge and hat body driving mechanism adapted to move the body oppositely to the direction of the carding action.

5. A hat carding machine comprising a suitable tapered support adapted to receive a hat body and having a carding ed e and means for driving the body, in combination with a rotating card drum adapted ,to act on such body against the edge, means for pressing the two together and a stop device serving to limit the degree of such pressure.

6. A hat carding machine comprising two conical rollers adapted to receive between them a conical hat body, means for driving both rollers and means for separating same to receive the body and closing same to drive the body, in combination with a drum adapted to card the body and a lever member for pressing the drum upon the body.

7. A hat carding machine comprising a tapered shoe on which a hat-body may move in either direction, a pair of feed rollers and means whereby the operator may open and close the same upon a hat-body to drive the hat-body thereon in one direction, in combination with a rotary carding drum and means whereby the operator may bring the same into contact with the body on the shoe to drive the same in the opposite direction, said means being capable of independent operation whereby the hat-body may be carded when moving in either direction.

in testimony whereof, I have signed this specification in the presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE A. LOWE. Witnesses:

Gnonon Frrz GERALD, EUGENE H. SHERWOOD.

flopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Uommissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

